


Pity the lady

by AnnaCipactli12



Series: Dark and Light [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Tudors (TV)
Genre: Angst, Complicated Relationships, F/M, Friendship, Mother-Son Relationship, Motherhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 06:36:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11458038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaCipactli12/pseuds/AnnaCipactli12
Summary: Part of my AU series where Mary Tudor is Anakin's mother. What happened when Anakin Skywalker found out that his beloved nanny had died at the hands of the Tuskens? And how has Mary earned herself resentment from her son?





	Pity the lady

Mary remembered a bright light in the sky. It was her son’s spaceship. She ran towards it. He was a nineteen years old, next to him was none other than the Queen Amidala -now Senator Amidala- from Naboo.

She reminded her of the harlot. No, I mustn’t call her that. But why not? Her mother did and she wasn’t punished. But that is because my mother can get away with almost everything. It comes with the package. When you marry an Spanish Infanta, you get everything, including her paranoia and self-importance.

“Mother, this is, well you remember. Padme,” Padme came forward and bowed her head. In spite of everything, she still regarded her as the trueborn daughter of Henry VIII. But there were more pity in her eyes than respect. That was something Mary thrived on but hated. Sympathy, she could handle. Her mother said it was weak but she disagreed. It encouraged her to do better, but pity? It made her feel like she was lower than dirt. But that was all she had since she’d gotten pregnant with Anakin. And it was what kept her alive all these years. People expressed their condolences for having her son ‘taken’ from her. For being raised in such a heretical environment -without realizing everything he was learning. They knocked on her door, asking her to be their children’s godmother, begging her for her blessing, saying that she was the godliest of all women.

Was Mary proud of this? Of course not. But again, what other choice she had when she had no skills or self-esteem like her superior half-sister who being only three years older than Anakin, was already an accomplished scholar and trusted adviser of their father and half-brother, Owen, the Prince of Wales?

“I remember. My lady, it is a pleasure to see you. Anakin hasn’t stopped talking about you.” She looked around.

“Is something wrong, my lady?”

“Where is Shmni? I thought she’d be here with you.”

Anakin echoed the same thoughts. It made Mary jealous. Her son cared more about the former slave than his own mother. _But can I blame him when she raised him?_

What her mother had done to her had been cruel. She had stood up to Anne Boleyn before, but there she stood. Stiff as a board as she sent her goons to take her son away. She agreed to send one of her servants and that was Shmni. “So you know what it feels having someone you love call another ‘mother’.” Mary pleaded with her mother. She went down to her knees and begged her not to let this happen.

Her father was there and he told her to behave like the princess she was raised as. Mary’s response was spitting right at his face which earned a slap. Anakin saw that and wailed like the little boy she was.

He wasn’t a slave, or born a servant but he might as well be. Once he was sent to Hatfield, he was treated like one. Shmni was with him, guarding him from all evil-wishers. She never left his side, not even when she gained her freedom.

“Your ladyship, it is important. The Jedi Council doesn’t know we are here and neither does Queen Jamilla.” Mary nodded to the Senator, and guided the two inside. They walked to an empty home. Mary had received countless offers of marriage but she turned down every one of them.

Her mind was on looking after her mother, treating her like a little girl, caressing her cheek, letting everyone know that she’d forgiven her, and as such, was an example of virtue and filial love.

“You will not find Shmni in England or any part of Earth. She and her husband Lord Sudeley went off planet to Tatooine to sort some business.”

“Why didn’t the Republic inform us?” Padme asked.

Mary shrugged. Her lips twisted as Padme’s tone became impatient. The little minx didn’t have to try hard. She had her son wrapped against her little finger. Mary chose her words carefully. “I do not know. My father said that the Old Republic preferred to keep this a secret. Lord Sudeley recently became an admiral and he showed aptitude for piloting ships. He was enrolled in some courses and made first mate after a few months. Shmni was proud. He proposed to her and she immediately accepted. I did not want to tell you about the wedding because she said that she wanted to keep it private.” She lied.

“I understand. I have her name though, that is all I need and if that is the way she wants to keep it, then I am glad but I must know mom, where exactly on Tatooine is she? Could you send her a message?”

“I am afraid I cannot, my son. She said that she would return in three weeks time. If you two stay here for a week, you can greet the two of them.”

Anakin smiled then embraced her. Throughout those weeks, she caught glimpses of the two’s lingering looks. When Anakin let his guard down, he’d take her against the wall. Sometimes Mary creep silently downstairs and watch the two of them on the couch, talking about the future and their undying love for one another.

Padme tried hard to reject but it was hard to say ‘no’ to someone who was completely devoted to you. The way Anakin spoke to her reminded her of how her father spoke to her mother -according to her wild tales- and then Anne Boleyn.

One night, they couldn’t resist. The two kissed. Anakin held her in his armors, his ardor for her increasing ten-fold as she told him she’d been dying ever since they’d crossed paths again. She didn’t want to leave him and he promised her, she never would.

The following morrow Mary was about to tell him that the two could never be when news arrived from the old Republic corps. Thomas Seymour and Shmni Skywalker’s transport never made it to the Hutts. They had been caught in the storm. There were no survivors.

Anakin became unhinged. He still sensed her and ignoring her advice, he and Padme went to Tatooine to look for. When they returned, the truth was evident in their faces. They were both dead. Thomas Seymour’s skull was smashed into a million pieces, not as a result of the crash but because he and Shmni had been captured by Tusken Raiders.  
Anakin snuck into their camp but he was too late. Thomas was too weak to raise himself up and Shmni was barely conscious. When she looked at Anakin, she told him that she was complete.

Shmni had once again usurped her role. As she tried to cling on to life, she heard Thomas beg her to stay awake for their unborn child. Anakin was not a healer but he was the chosen. “I should stop people from dying.” He railed at her.

“You are not all powerful, Ani. You were given special gifts by the Almighty or the Force if that is what you wish to call it. But you are not a God, you must accept what has happened and move on. Relish your last moments with her. She loved you like a son, she said so herself. She would not want you to be sad over her passing.”

“But it is not fair, mom. I am supposed to be strong. The prophecy says that I can bring balance to the Force. What is balance if not to stop people from dying and suffering injustice at the hands of those savages!”

“Do not give into your anger, Anakin. That is the way of the devil. You were there for Shmni and Thomas. You tried to save them, that is more that the Old Republic would ever have done for a terrestrial and a former slave. Your intent is what counts.”

But he remained stubborn. “It is not enough! I should have the power to stop people from dying. I hate them. The natives are right. They are animals and I slaughtered them like animals!”

Mary backed away when she heard this. She had harbored dark thoughts against the concubine and her half-siblings when they were born but it had been her love -which triumphed over her hatred for their mother- which had stopped her from doing horrible things.

Her mother always saw Anakin as some type of Anti-Christ while her father saw him as a tool. Had they been right? She turned her back to her son and momentarily closed her eyes.

_She was back to the beginning, when all this madness started. She was only six and ten. Her father had just divorced her mother, and the pope had issued a new bull allowing for the union with his next wife, the infamous concubine, Anne Boleyn._

_She was impure. A blind man could see that. There were rumors of her sleeping with other men, including married men. How could her father be so stupid not to see that?_

_Mary brushed it off. It wouldn’t do her any good to focus on her parents’ problems. Whatever they faced, it was their affair, not hers._

_She ran wildly, chasing after her cousins, Eleanor and Frances. The latter was sneaky while the former was too loud. She finally spotted them and tagged Frances. “Your turn, sour cos.”_

_Frances fumed. Eleanor and Mary laughed and hid from their cousin. Eleanor had the bright idea to separate so her older sister wouldn’t be able to find them. “That is a great idea.” Mary said then ran the opposite way. Her father had constructed this maze for her, as a parting gift for her and her mother._

_Her mother didn’t want her to accept but Mary did anyway. She loved being outdoors and a thing like this was too beautiful to cast aside. As she reached the end of it, she felt a cold wind behind her. She had felt her back hit something -which she assumed was the grass but when she turned, to her shock it was a man._

_She cocked her head sideways. He had this big blue eyes, so big, and bright that a commoner would mistake them for sapphires. She chuckled. A naïve young girl whom the older Mary wished to tell her “get out of there you fool!” but you can’t change the past, just learn from it. So here was older Mary, force to relive her ugly memories._

_But life was seldom fair. And that miserable young fool was about to find out._

_When Katharine came, she found her daughter curled up in a ball. She was muttering, telling her that the dark man visited her. Nobody believed her. They thought she’d gone mad and when she told her father directly that he had something to do with her current state, he freaked._

It would have been easier for Mary if she lied. Somebody who had been lusting for Henry VIII’s once precious jewel found her in the maze and took advantage of her. She was too scared to say his name that she resorted to wild stories about ghosts and demons. But could she live knowing that she had condemned an innocent man?

No. Mary carried her burden, smiling at her mother when she yelled at her, and told her that this was God’s punishment for not being devout enough. Now, the tables were turned. Mary looked after her dying mother, hearing her tales of when she grew up in Spain, next to a loving family, especially a loving mother.

She forced her to eat whatever Mary cooked for her. Since living in disgrace, Mary had learned how to make her own bread and other meals. She had cooks now but she chose to prepare her mother’s food since she wanted her to know that in spite of everything, she still love her and Mary would be by her side when she breathed her last.

“To be angry is to be human but not to give into your anger, Ani, is to be greater.”

“Padme said something similar.”

Of course she would. It figured the self-righteous politician would say something to please him. Women like her weren’t hard to figure out. They saw their friends as their next go-to projects. If they could fix them and mold them into what they wanted them to be, then the better they felt about themselves.  
_The girl thinks she is a saint._ If there was one person whom she feared would take her son away from her for good, it was her. The way Anakin looked at her, it was as if he was staring at a religious altar.

“She said that to be angry is to be human then she said that I couldn’t have done more and I should tell Obi Wan. But she doesn’t know the pain I felt seeing Shmni die in my arms. I tried to save Thomas as well, you must believe me, mom.”

“What I believe is not important, it is what you think that is. If you say that you did your best, I know that you did. I am your mother, you can’t keep secrets from me but you can from the council and that is not something you want.”

“Is it not? The council treats me like a child. They think I am not ready to take the trials. Jedi far less prepared and younger me than have and have now earned the rank of Master.”

“Exactly, they have earned it. It is not about being the most powerful but the more experienced. They have had experienced, you have not.” Mary sighed. “You wish to be the best. I admire that from you but I repeat, it is not enough.”

Anakin wasn’t happy with that answer. He expected more from his mother and here she was, being a weakling like his master and everyone else who gave him the same answer.

**~o~**

Mary was sad to see her son go. But it is for the best. If he will not listen to me, maybe seeing his master groveling before the Sith will change his mind.

It didn’t. Obi Wan was too proud and too devout to the Jedi teachings to bend the knee to Doku or accept the truth about the corrupt order he was part of. After the battle of Geonosis, Mary received another visit from her son. He took her to Coruscant where he gave her a present.

“What is it?” She asked him before opening the small metallic box. Anakin gave her a sheepish grin.

“You will love it, mom. I ordered this weeks ago but I did not have enough credits to pay the mason, luckily my fiancé did.”

“Oh no. Anakin you did not. Please tell me you did not.” Anakin responded with another grin. “Not yet, but soon. We are hoping you will accept to be our witness along with R2 and C-3PO.”

“I-I …” She could not. This was madness.

“Please mom, say yes. It will mean the world to me.”

For him, yes but for Padme? Like any politician, Padme had noticed her dislike for her and naturally, she reciprocated.

“I want to go-“

“Then it is settled!”

“-but I do not want to see you ruin your life.”

“Mom, I love her. I want to be with her and she wants to be with me.”

“You do and I am sure it feels good at first but love is not something you can hide from the rest of the world, Ani. You made a commitment to the Jedi Order, it is a sacred oath.”

“They will not find out.”

“It is not that what worries me, it is you. You are heading down a dangerous path. She is going to make you very happy, I have no doubt about that but what will happen when you get in the way of her career. She is a Senator, Anakin. An activist one at that. They don’t care about anything else except their cause. I know these people, I have been around them all my life and once she sees you for who you really are, she will abandon you.”

“And who am I exactly, mom? Because nobody has given me a clear answer. The Jedi say I am the chosen on. The Senate thinks I am their hero and the commons think I am some sort of god while your family thinks I am the anti-Christ.”

“Careful, Anakin.” Mary said with an even tone. “You can rail against the Jedi all you want but my family is another matter. Your grandfather is an old man and he is not long for this world. Your uncle will rule after him and what do you think his ill-tempered new Majesty will do if he finds his nephew is being an ingrate? You must listen to me. I want what is best for you. You are a caring, empathetic young man who has always had everyone’s interests in mind but that is not going to be enough for her. All she cares about is sponsoring her cause, whatever that may be because people like her always need a cause. When she no longer needs you, she still cast you aside.”

“You are confusing Padme with your father. She is not like that.”

“She is. I am trying to make you understand. Why can’t you listen to me? You always listen to other people, Padme, Shmni, even Obi Wan.”

She’d hit a chord there. “Don’t talk about Shmni that way. Who sung songs for me when I was afraid? Who told me about the wonders of the galaxy before I started dreaming of getting out of that hellhole Henry VIII sent me to?”

“I tried visiting you but every time your father sent one of this thugs to tell me that I was forbidden.”

“You could have tried, mom. I wrote to you every day. You never wrote back. When you did visit, you were always distant. Telling me ‘watch out for this, watch out for that’.”

“I wanted to be there for you but my parents didn’t want me and much less her.”

“Anne Boleyn, it is always her in the end, isn’t it? Why don’t you just admit that you did not want to be there for me because deep down you cared more about their approval than your own son.”

“No, do not put words in my mouth. That is not true. I love you.”

“Then why did you let them treat me like that?!” Anakin’s eyes were brimming with tears.

“I am sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say.

“That is not enough. I needed you and you weren’t there for me. And I need you now and you choose to abandon me again. Goodbye, mother.”

Mary screamed his name but it was too late. Anakin was gone. The next day C-3PO came to tell her that a transport was waiting for her that would take her back to Earth. Captain Typho, Padme’s head of security, gave her a warm greeting. There was pity in his eyes. Again, it was the only emotion she could get out of people and until the day she died, it would be the only thing that she’d be known for.


End file.
